shorthorn steer. what do you guys think?

[hsShowCattle]

This is my daughters purebred shorthorn steer.  When we got him he weighed 580#, 32 days later I weighed him again, he weighed 704#.  If I'm figuring it right he is gaining 3.84# a day. he is eating 20# premixed feed a day and depth charge. He gets a couple lbs of grass hay daily as well and free choice mineral lick.  I need to cut him back k as our weigh in for 4-h is end of January.  I'm wanting him around 800-850 at weigh in so I won't have to worry about him making the required rate of gain to get on the auction.  What do you guys think of him and any suggestions as fas as what to feed him now.

 

[hsShowCattle]

Here he is

 

[hsShowCattle]

The feed we are feeding is show rite full throttle. 

 

[mark tenenbaum]

I dont know how hes bred but he shows ALOT of performance-and looks like he"ll have alot of further grow-it depends upon how big they want em-You may think about using the old burn method with corn to slow him down some O0

 

[hsShowCattle]

He's out of jsf believer which is a jazz son and on his dams side is salute and Vegas.  He is growing and eating better than I had anticipated.  The breeder expects he can hold 1300-1350 easily and he isn't really that tall. he is a march steer.

 

[mark tenenbaum]

From a commercial standpoint-hes a real good steer and puts on the pounds-and Hed have to be pretty thick to wiegh in the 7s if he isnt very tall O0

 

[hsShowCattle]

This is his rear

 

[hsShowCattle]

This gives an idea of his height. maybe haha. my daughter is 5'7"

 

[Tallcool1]

This is my daughters purebred shorthorn steer.  When we got him he weighed 580#, 32 days later I weighed him again, he weighed 704#.  If I'm figuring it right he is gaining 3.84# a day. he is eating 20# premixed feed a day and depth charge. He gets a couple lbs of grass hay daily as well and free choice mineral lick.  I need to cut him back k as our weigh in for 4-h is end of January.  I'm wanting him around 800-850 at weigh in so I won't have to worry about him making the required rate of gain to get on the auction.  What do you guys think of him and any suggestions as fas as what to feed him now.

I don't have all of the details, but I am going to tell you the basic formula and variables that I use when we get a calf in.

I always assume about 50 pounds of shrink on a feeder size steer.  So in your case, the 580# would have converted to an actual 630# weight.  Re-calculate the ADG, and it comes up to 2.31/day......which is still really good considering the acclimation period, the change in feed, and the fact that you are just getting him wound up!

Now I round that number up, so in your case I would use 2.5/day.  If you are 75 days from weigh in, that means he will add about 185 pounds.  That will put your steer at about 890#, and he will shrink some on the trailer ride to weigh in.

What this formula gets ME is a weight that I consider to be manageable in terms of shrinking him back for weigh in without running the risk of not feeding him enough and having him turn into a big tall race horse looking thing.

I believe (this is just MY opinion) that how a steer is fed between 500 and 900 pounds will determine what he ends up being in the end.

I also agree with Mark's advice about the "burn method". 

Nice steer, and you are doing a great job.  Getting a weight on him every month or so is the best way to know!

 

[RyanChandler]

That steer is putting on way more than a couple lbs a day on 20lbs of feed.  Especially when you get him up around a thousand lbs on full feed, he looks the part of a calf that would gain over twice that if feeding him 3% of his body weight. 

 

[hsShowCattle]

I will be weighing him this weekend to get a second weight on him on the same scale. we have a scale at the farm. we weighed him last weekend and that's when he was at 704.  The first time we weighed him was in the trailer (we weighed the truck and trailer on our way to pick him up) on the drive home from where we brought him. He was trailered a total of about 5 miles.  We bought him from our neighbor. 

 

[OH Breeder]

He's out of jsf believer which is a jazz son and on his dams side is salute and Vegas.  He is growing and eating better than I had anticipated.  The breeder expects he can hold 1300-1350 easily and he isn't really that tall. he is a march steer.

Here's what little I know about the genetics on your calf. Believer comes from Jazz and the Marigold cow family. The Marigolds from what I know and can see have a mix of HUBS, Coronet Pa Do etc breeding. That family should be easy fleshing animals. Jazz I know is easy fleshing. He has moderated your size considerably as the Vegas and Salute part of the equation would lend size to that calf.

I think you are right on track. 3% of body weight is 21#'s of feed. I would let him eat now all that he can and want on a ration that is around 11-12%. That's not too growy. If you think he is getting too tall, then drop your protein down to 10%. I like the calves first impression which is that of a soft sided easy feeding kind of animal. I know you can sweat him out in the summer and I would rather have him on target before those hot months hit and his gain drops to almost nill. In my experience, summer is not the time to try to get one done. that's Ohio weather because we have such extremes. I think you are on track. I feed free choice hay and we haven't had an issue with our calves going off feed or not eating their grain. I have found the calves have more depth and belly to them when we allow free choice grass hay. But if you think about it, they need that grass to keep gut health. Definitely as you progress on feed give him doses of probiotics to maintain rumen health.

I am sure there are folks that agree disagree, but this has worked for us. We show the first week of September BUT our state fair is usually the last week of July or First week of August. So when we have one that is exceptionally good we shoot for state fair. I would rather coast through august from state fair to september then beg for finish. I think we've discussed this on board before, if you are feeding only a couple calves bagged feeds work for alot of people. Bagged feeds don't work for us because we feed so many usually 8-10. My feed mill will take the tags from what ever 'pre-bagged" feed I like and make it up in the mill. TO each their own on that. There are 101 ways of doing this and you have to find what fits your program. Must weigh him frequently to keep track of gains.
Remember this is JUST MY OPINION.